Shock absorbing vehicle bumper



Oct. 30, 195] TERRANQVA v 7 2,573,510

SHOCK ABSORBING VEHICLE BUMPER Filed Jan. l9, 1946 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1 Bis-am 755mm by P as- I I may Oct. 30, 195] TERRANOVA 2,573,510

SHOCK ABSORBING VEHICLE BUMPER Filed Jan. 19, .1946 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 L|II I I II I I I I'll I I III l ml H @LHH lh I. II IIll will JHs-quaz Yizwwom Patented Oct. 30, 1951 UNITED OF C f 2,573,5ro; 1

snooze- .ensonnmc VEHIGEEJBUMPERE Baseyale hrw n; onn Ni amu t 'Jenua -m, m ra seriarlv 6425189 This invention relates. inv general: tor aeshock: absorbing bumper. foralL types of?- vehicles, both, passenger; cars and. trucks, andahoth'heavyrandp lightuvehiclesof; each type.

It; an; obiectof this. inventionlto; provide, a 5:, heavy; duty. shock. absorbing; blnnpeli: which". is: adapted to be: used: on all types; Off vehicles, to; protect thevehicles from;-.damaee;by oollision.

It is.another objectuoii this.inventionLto provide a stron heavy duty type-shochabsorbina bumper.

352. further-obj 6013;. Of 3 this inventi nto I D l videastrong heavy duty shooknbsorbineumper: comprisin a; sturdyi bumper: member stron lyonneotedandmounted; to the .ehicla:v

' nstill; further; ob ct of: t

the.v sho k when; striki obj ct: n order: to protect he omectzw i na sst ols;

Additional objects of this.=,in;ventiQ as; wellzassits onstr cti n,useand on rationwill;in:part1be obions and:.=w 11 npart e omezapnarenttfroma the; iollow-ine isolo nro- E r f-nrtnencompreh nsi n frf the; invention. amioi then-ob ect angl ad. .va.nta es:there i, referonce gbe had-ta tle ol wine descrip on and: accompany e; dr w n s-i, andl to; the; annond. cl m ,inwniohs hev r o snovelfea u es of. he. inve tion a ev moronarti nl v he; oo zn any n drawnez tonal nar zoizthis: isclosure;

El a-.1; is; a ersp ctiv view of: he; numbe arcs-- cord neto. ne form; o ewinven io Eig. 2 is a. cresssecti haa ,lcleshoivniinl Ei i, ;,'ta en;a on thelinei 2;.

Fi -v3. isla ross eQti ni-vo the artielejshown: 35 in Fig. 1 taken along the li,ne 3 -3l,

Rig, 4';-is airagmentary.plan view in cross section of the article shown in Fig. 1 taken along the line 44.

Fig. 5; is..a rear elevation o the article; shown in'Fi g. 1.

Fig. 6 is aperspectivevievv of abnmper according to another form ofthis invention.

Fig. .7: is a rear elevational'l view of the article. shownin'rlirig. 6.. v. o t

Fig 8 is asidecrosssectionaliview of the'article shown inEig. fitaken along the line 8*-8.

Fig a iso-a fragmentary. side cross :sectional'view of the article shown in Fig. 6: taken along the line- I I I Fig IO -is-a fragmentary. plam view. in cross-section of a portion of the article shown in Fig. 8 taken along the line l0l 0.

Fig. 11 is a fragmentary schematic view of the rear end of a heavy vehicle showing positioned locum.- (c1.

i acentiion,:- is to; 5* provide a heavy duty bumpe whiQll.will;;,absorbJ thereon;-. two: bumpersaccordingto another; form; oizthis invention.,.

Fig; 121s a top .p1an view of a bumper according; to. Rig. .11

Inetheefirst; formsofthe; invention illustrated: in; Rigs: lto. 5, therevis-shownv a bumper generally; designatedHZI. comprising a bumper member 22: andamounting member 23;springab1y;connected: together by means of, a: leaf-,isprin genera1ly,des ig.-.. net ed-"214;: and? a; pair of! coil pring conn c ors; 5 8v l1. r Thembumner m mber. 22, isieenera lya heavy); tou h, elongated. body; such. as a lo g. str o heavy steel, which is adapted to receive and dis: trihutezaa heavy shook. T is nmp mornb n ma eneralbe a: conv nti nal v hic e bnlni en an r ne-st no r th r o avabe ri with n:

a: im t conv nt o a usedv u mobile-and;-

trnoln constr ction-s: n enera-,1 the bumn nw l be..-1one;enon.ento x ends a s e w h o he: trnononw ioh it o n e n w l a w h an n n ths n ro ort ont es z d We ht; o a: do w T; ,.e; .nonn ine mb it -a o w at sma ler; and lighter elongated member, such-- as; a steel; member which is rig-idlymounted on the truck which. orm t connection betw en. he t n ndthetrnob. nro n mountneoitn sono n er will ob s. to those anneain the art. v

leaf spring 24 serves to. interconnect the nx norrn nin nd. he nt n em 2 n to sm'inea r a a t os mem ers. ne fro s h se m mbers. i s ownn in Fig, The leaf, spr ng com; arises: anlnr litm i avy: sprin t e members or leaves 27 arranged-ingroups-QS;andjite in ..an; eronate a r n emen as; s nv nti a v with springs 01; this-type. Each groupcomprisesa setof; theseimemhers 'L'JQined to ethen ocoop r-e ateas;..one integral.springmemben These groups: 28 and 28 are connected together at theirtendsi as shownzin; Fig; 4 by "means of a, conventional shaclglingi connection; 29 whereby the; longest member-prone spring group is'j oined to; thesime. ilarsinembrervoflthe other, group. 'Iheeconnection 29, comprises a loop 30 on the end of the spring;

member 21,- .the loop: passing around a bolt, 3j; or thfiilikGlSflCllIfld to spaced bolt plates,32 .q a

one group; 28:1 or: spring members. 21:: is cor r--- nected to the bumper member 22, by means of bolt 33 or the like. The other group 28 is connected to the mounting member 23 similarly by another bolt 33. Optionally either or both of ventional clamps 34.

' between bumper member By means of this member 23 so that a force of a blow on the bumper member 22 is transmitted through springs V 24 to the'mounting member 23. In this Way a shock applied to the bumper member is absorbed by the spr ngs 24 instead of being transmitted directly'to' the mounting" member 23 and thereby to the truck itself.

Additionally another pair of interconnect the bumper mounting member 23. As shown in greater detail in Fig.

by means of a rod 35 from members 22 and 23 and to limit the separationlb'etween these imembers, with. spring .25

spirally passing around this rodxiwh'enia .s'hock" spring mounting, bumper 1 member 22 is movably connected to mounting springs 25 and m mber-1.22: with ztl s ne cted by means with Fig. 11. In this form of the invention, two springs 2| are mounted on the rear of a truck 4| curving somewhat beyond the sides of the truck. As will be shown in connection with Fig. 2 these bumpers are springably mounted on the truck with the outside ends 42 of the bumper less easily compressed than the inside ends 43.

Fig. 12 shows in outline one of spring members 2|? adapted to i-lt on the ji ht endarea of the truck. The. bumper 2 l comprises a bumper member 22 and a mounting member 23 interconof oppositely arched leaf spring 24 and 21 as in Fig. 1, and by means of a light jcoilsprin'g. ZBPzatgend 43 and a heavy coil spring 3, the bumper member-"22' and themounting member 23 are slidably interconnected which has caps 35* on either end thereof to prevent it. from being disengaged connects the m'ounting member ands-bumper.

member at eitherendthereof I The J secondary mounting through springs: 25 and 26 serves to assist in taking up a shock of a oollision and optionally serves to help --maintain anearly parallel alignment betweenthe two mem bers l '1 "L In Figs. 6-to 10' there is shownanother for-m of'this invention differing from the previous form in that the'bumper member 22 is arcuate in shape being; smoothly curved ackward towards its;erids,-and also difiering in that a single-group of spring leaves 24 'interconnects members-22 and 23 instead of thepair of groups24 shown in-Fig. l. A similar pair of coil or-spiral=springs 25 and 2E5 mounted around rods BS 'interQonnectsthe'two members 22 and 23 as described in phepreviousfigures. ;I..V-,;.L. o I i.'.: .1; Fig. '7 shows'a rear view of this articleillus trating among other things the size of" mounting member 23 and the way it fits-substantially witm in the larger-inwardly curved bumper- -member 2p Fig. 8,-which is a cross section'of the article of Fig. 6 shows the mounting (if-leafspring-24 22 and mountingfmem ber 23 with spring 25= and rod'35 -intrconnect ing the two members 22F-and-235 The-structure of the leaf spring 24, is similar tothat shown in Fig. 2 comprising a plurality of springleaves 21 joined together in a group.

As shown in Fig. 9, the spring zas issecurea to the mounting member 23 by means' of abolt' 33 while the rod 25 is slidably secured-thereto by means of the rod extending throughmounting member 23 Y i i The ends of the spring'24 are secured't6=': the bumper member 22 by means of a'loop w -passing' around the pin 3M on the bumpenme'm beri 22 the loop being. at theiend'kof ii 'ispring leaf2l. ':.Figs; 11 and l-2.show another form l'o'f h vention, particularly. adapted. to useson theirear end of i a truck,.. as for example,'. in cqordance 25' at the end. 42. Through these springs 25 and 2fi rodseitend in a manner similar to that shown inthanrerm s emps- Bumper 2| differs from the article shown in Fig.'l in"-that it is shorter, thereby being adapted to be mounted at oneicorner only of the truck, and.also in that spring 25 is heavier than spring 28P; :whereby. 2there;is unb'alancedizresistance to shock-g .:Thus", a'n object icolliding with the tWOI bumper members 2W will be resisted largely'by leaf spring. 124 and 21 2 within :each. bumper;

however ansobject colliding at the corner of the.

truck will be .resisted by leaflspring's 24P'zinjthe bumper which it'strikesiand in addition will b'e.

strongly resisted by heavy coilsprings 25 =5 WhileI have illustrated and described th'e pre-- ferred embodiments of my invention; it is to be understoodthat I do: not limitmyself to the precise constructions herein-"disclosed and-the right is reserved to all changes and modifications com-- ing within the scope of the'in-vention as defined in theappend'ed claim.-

I Having -thu'sdescribed m invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by United StatesLetters Patent isz' l. V

A bumper :oompr-ising an elongated mounting member for attaohmenton'a vehicle, and elon' gated bumper member extended parallel to'said mounting -member and spaced therefrom, compressible -resilientmeans supportingsaid bumper memberon said mounting member, and arcuate leaf springs interposed between the adjacent facesof said bumper member and said mounting'member and between saidresilient supporting means, said leaf. springs comprising a pair of oppositely disposed groups of leaf springs having their. outer ends connected together and their intermediate portions secured to said bumper memberand said mounti'ng 'member -intejrmediate oftheir ends, said leaf springs havingf-their lengths disp'osed parallel to "the lengths-of said mounting member and said bumpermemben' l '7 f-PASQUALE-TERRANOVA.

' Remittances I organ me-fainting references are or record in-iithe file of this patent:

4 egsr re 'lr gw l Number, "Name.

1,424,699 Wernig .Au'g:..1,r1922 1,504,505.. 1 Reedet al. Aug.112, 1.924 1,505,365" xiBans'chbach L Aug. 19,1924. 1 135,257. '1 1: :McGowen; Oct. 28, 1924 1 4581 432" 'i-;-Fa'geol Aprw'20; 1926 1,593,118 Earle July 20, 192.6.

Nomicos; Jan. v1, 1929 sea 

